91 lots seized by the courts were sold this Sunday morning during an auction on the sidelines of the video game show. With some nuggets for collectors.
The nostalgia was in full swing this Sunday at Paris Games Week. In a small room away from the hustle and bustle of the trade fair, the auction house Kahn & Associés auctioned off consoles and video games from the last four decades.
Confiscated by the courts, the hundred tickets collected, wildly mixed up, Super Nintendo, NeoGeo or Sega Saturn. Unless a product was sold new (which can cause auctions to skyrocket), the products were usually in their original packaging, an important guarantee for collectors.
So there were around a hundred people in the room and twice as many online to get the best prices. “It’s not a human flood, it’s people who know what they want,” Justice Commissioner David Kahn summarized to Tech&Co.
91 lots were ultimately sold, often for amounts well above their purchase value or even their current price.
Some pretty consoles were presented, such as this trio from Sega Game Gear – including a yellow model – which sold for 260 euros. Not surprisingly, the Super Nintendo Street Fighter II edition also upped the ante and flirted with 300 euros per box.
A Game Boy Light cost 250 euros, a Game Boy Advance – Zelda Edition – 150 euros despite the defective hinge. This set consisting of two Game Boys, one red and one blue, in their plastic box was purchased online for 370 euros.
Some buyers at the cinema managed to snag a few, like this Nintendo 64, which was purchased for €300 after a bit of a battle with online buyers. Among other things, a Sega Saturn – Sega’s big commercial flop after the Mega Drive – was sold for 300 euros. His 3D controller, sold in a box, was sold for 150 euros.
However, for the highest amounts, the top prize goes to NeoGeo, a Japanese console from 1990 that is rated among the highest in retrogaming. A console cost 450 euros, the various games were sold for several hundred euros.
Finally, the most prestigious lots caused excitement. A rare version of Metal Slug X on NeoGeo was eventually purchased online for 4,200 euros. And myself…
“The box had a slight dent,” says an expert. “As a result, it loses 30 to 40% of its value.”
Finally, a batch of six NeoGeo games broke the daily record: 5,000 euros.
“A very good sale,” says the auctioneer. “We have tripled the low estimated price with a total of around 25,000 euros for just 91 lots.” Further consoles and games will be auctioned again on November 16th, this time only online.
Thomas Leroy Journalist BFM Business